Prosecutorial misconduct

By: WISCONSIN LAW JOURNAL STAFF//February 5, 2014//

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United States Court of Appeals For the Seventh Circuit

Criminal

Prosecutorial misconduct — vouching

Alexander argues on appeal — for the first time — that the prosecutor impermissibly vouched for the credibility of the key government witness during his closing argument.

“With the benefit of appellate hindsight, we conclude that the prosecutor’s closing argument at two points strayed across an admittedly fine line into improper vouching, but the errors were not serious and did not deprive Alexander of a fair trial or cause his convictions. Alexander thus cannot establish the plain error that would be required to win reversal based on prosecutorial behavior not objected to at trial. We affirm the judgment of the district court.

Affirmed.

12-3498 United States of America v. Alexander

Appeal from the United States District Court for the Northern District of Illinois, Western Division. Hamilton, J.

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